Royal Mail suitor eyes bid for French tech firm

THE Czech billionaire vying to buy Royal Mail has launched a takeover bid for a French national champion that holds crucial contracts for this summer’s Paris Olympics.

Daniel Kretinsky, the Royal Mail bidder known as the “Czech Sphinx”, is among the financiers vying to bail out troubled tech company Atos.

France’s Atos has various strategically significant deals with the state, including running supercomputers for France’s nuclear deterrent and contracts with the French Army. It is the official IT partner for the Olympics.

The company is struggling under the weight of almost €5bn (£4.3bn) of debt and said last week it needs €1.1bn to stay afloat until 2025. Mr Kretinsky has tabled a restructuring bid through his investment vehicle EP Group, alongside hedge fund Attestor.

In a letter to the board, Mr Kretinsky said his bid “offers stability quickly by injecting capital and providing stewardship” with the “overarching goal of turning around and relaunching Atos on a solid strategic path”. Mr Kretinsky is offering to invest €600m of equity in Atos and provide €1.3bn of debt financing, in return for 99pc of the business. The billionaire described Atos as “a company in great distress, disoriented by a strategic deadlock and suffocated by an accumulation of accounting and financial problems”.

The language mirrors his approach to Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distributions Services (IDS). Last month, Mr Kretinsky tabled a surprise bid for the company, which was rejected. He is expected to return with an improved offer.

Atos said yesterday it had received four restructuring bids. It said it expects to select a restructuring offer by the end of this month.

‘It is a company in great distress and suffocated by accounting and financial problems’